[Kalobbis]

Hey Everyone,

So not only is our college club brand new, our school isn't that large either.
Which means small amounts of funding, especially for new clubs.
And so I wanted to ask anyone out there with fundraising experience, or college fundraising exp, etc....

Have you had any successful fundraisers?

I want to find something that could actually work. Obviously we've already thought up of classic ideas. Car washes, bake sales, but these are tooooooo common that it wouldn't be very successful.

Anyone have any ideas that work well? If it pertained to kendo that would be all the better.

Thanks!

[Civilrecordzz]

What's the rank of the highest ranked person in your club?

Thinking outside the box, how many taekwondo/karate schools are there in your area?
It might be worth contacting the head instructors of those schools (especially if they teach sword stuff) and asking if they might be interested in you guys putting on a kendo demo AND/OR seminar of sorts. At the very least, you could negotiate to split the proceeds of a seminar with the school. NOTE that some instructors may not go for that because many of them may be really edgy, thinking that they will lose their own students to your kendo class (but you might counter that by saying (if it's true) that only students from your college are permitted to join the club).

Ok, so that's one idea.
Second idea: Advertise a "bokken and kendo seminar" (general public doesn't know good terminology of stuff anyway). Where to advertise? That's up to you. If you have a martial arts supply store in town, that's a perfect place to advertise because all sorts of SCAers, LARPers, and backyard ninjers hang out at those places. So you advertise a bokken/kendo seminar for FOUR hours on some Saturday, led by ________________, of the _____________ kendo club, who has _____ rank. (obviously it's more beneficial if you've got at least a 1.dan to do this)...
And then you go through all the hoops of teaching backyard ninjers some basic concepts of kendo, especially KATA. If any of your guys have iaido experience (especially if ranked), then throw in some iaido stuff. It doesn't need to be a 4 hour "quasi kendo class" where you make all kinds of eagle eye corrections and spend an hour just teaching proper grip, swing and footwork. You skip all that crap because the backyard ninjers who will PAY for this kind of seminar won't remember grip, swing and footwork stuff that's proper to kendo. They're going to take what they learn and adapt it to whatever in hell they're already doing in their backyard. So you go into teaching them stuff with that kind of thought in mind.

If you can get 20 people to show up and pay $40 a piece, that's $800 in the kitty right there.

The DRAWBACK of doing something like that, though, is a little bit of possible bad reputation when the backyard ninjers, et al. start telling all their buddies that they are "Trained in Kendo by the _____________ Kendo Club." Part of the positive, though, is that in addition to making some money, you get some more exposure to your club and possibly some new recruits (assuming they could join your college club).

....just kinda thinking out loud. This is one idea we've been kicking around but haven't followed up on... it helps that we have people in our club who have good rank in both kendo and iaido (3.dan+) who could help with this. It also helps that our head instructor owns the only martial arts supply store in town and is constantly flooded with "sword and martial arts enthusiasts who train on their own."

[aparneioninny]

In holland we have what we call 'sponsor runs' for the club. With kendo you can replace the run with for example haya suburi of kiri kaeshi. You find a number of sponsors (usually famely, friends, neighbours) that challenge you to make a certain number of haya suburi and pay you if you make that number. I have no idea wether or not it works in the us though.

[RSAccountssy]

on a side note, i'm not trying to suggest in my previous post that good kendo/iaido people take advantage of folks.

obviously any kind of seminar that you put on needs to be legit with legit instruction. People who are really, truly interested in learning kendo will inquire about joining a legit kendo club. There are other people who would prefer to get *something* from kendo without having to go through what the rest of us serious-minded kendo folks have already gone through.

basically, you'd just be supplying a need demanded by a specific niche-market.

nothing underhanded about that, in my opinion.

[textarchive]

One of the best working fundraisers, in my experience, is the old fashioned garage sale. Have all of your club members distribute flyers around various neighborhoods stating that you are looking for donations for a garage sale for your school club, with a brief discription of what kendo is and what it's for. Gather it all up, and stage a garage sale. Our Scout troop would raise anywhere from $1000 to $2500 at a single sale this way, and you have the added bonus of advertising for your club at the same time.

It's a lot more work than a carwash, but the returns are worth it.

[Peertantyb]

In holland we have what we call 'sponsor runs' for the club. With kendo you can replace the run with for example haya suburi of kiri kaeshi. You get a number of sponsors (usually famely, friends, neighbours) that challenge you to make a certain number of haya suburi and pay you if you make that number. I have no idea wether or not it works in the us though.

that would work in the U.S., but how successful it might be is another thing.
that said, St Jude children's research hospital has contacted our club about doing something similar to what you suggest. overall, people are more willing to donate money for a "hayasuburi fundraiser" when they know the money is going to a charity.

in the u.s., a kendo club would probably have more success having a car wash fundraiser.

[hasasnn2345tv]

One of the best working fundraisers, in my experience, is the old fashioned garage sale. Have all of your club members distribute flyers around various neighborhoods stating that you are looking for donations for a garage sale for your school club, with a brief discription of what kendo is and what it's for. Gather it all up, and stage a garage sale. Our Scout troop would raise anywhere from $1000 to $2500 at a single sale this way, and you have the added bonus of advertising for your club at the same time.

It's a lot more work than a carwash, but the returns are worth it.

interesting...

[orbidewa]

The latest trend around here is selling gift cards. As people are paying you X $ to be able to buy X $ worth of stuff, they don't feel like they're buying something they don't necessarily need like cookies, chocolate, frozen cookie dough etc.

[kertionderf]

Another idea:
Is anyone at your club a really keen photographer (ie owns a DSLR and reasonably good at composition) or does anyone know anyone that doesn't mind doing it? You could hold a 'dress as a samurai' photo shoot. People might pay to have their photo taken as a samurai (ie kendo bogu, most likely without the men) and then email them high resolution files. Pick a good location and advertise everywhere you can.
Another one, following on from one of the other suggestions, are there any festivals where people (ok children most likely) pay a small amount to do an activity for 20 minutes. Charge a small amount, make it fun (perhaps buy a few foam bokken) and split them into two teams or something.

[usacomm]

Coffee fundraisers are now popular maybe because people love coffee (just like me). It is very similar to candle fundraisers. You will make a specific profit percentage on every item you sell. I’ve just read this while browsing the internet – for coffee fundraisers you make 40% profit on every item or $4 each.

[Irravepem]

I agree with danneva- coffee fundraisers. The benefits of coffee fundraising are many, which involves
(a) Coffee is a regular grocery item that people buy so it’s a convenience to bring it to them,
(b) as Coffee is consumed quickly and regularly so this is a best fundraiser that you can run multiple times in a year despite of winter season.
(c) Coffee is non-perishable in nature that it could not be refrigerated and
(d) A Coffee fundraiser get ore profit than other food fundraisers.

[AsmViktor]

This fundraising has been mentioned before but selling magazines, credit card memberships, food etc. Also usually your school might also have fundraising opportunities to work their stands if you have any sports teams.